Branstad sticks to campaign pledge on two-year budgets

By Sioux City Journal

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So far this year, at least, Gov. Terry Branstad is sticking to his guns in terms of promises made last year as a candidate.

Good for him. Those Iowans who cast their vote for him in November expect nothing less.

?The most recent example was his recent pledge to sign only two-year budgets for state spending. Branstad vowed to veto all one-year budgets he receives, just as he did with a transportation budget earlier this month.

Among the priorities Branstad emphasized during the campaign for governor was a different approach to state budgeting than was practiced in recent years. Properly, he committed to putting the state's fiscal house in order for both the short and long term through such steps as reduced spending, enforcement of the state's 99 percent spending law - and pursuit of a biennial budget process.

We, like Branstad, believe budgeting for more than one year will prevent gimmicks (or “chicanery,” as Branstad referred to them recently) such as use of onetime revenue sources to fund ongoing expenses and diversion of funds from one account to another to meet general fund obligations; produce more long-term strategic planning; and, as new Department of Education Director Jason Glass said in Sioux City recently, build more predictability into the process.

Insistence on two-year budgets is one effective strategy Branstad can employ in meeting his stated goal - one of the biggest reasons he was returned to office - of improved fiscal stewardship within state government.